Lotus

By: Vithal C Nadkarni The Lotus has morphed into the Broom. Babudom's electrified. There's talk of uninterrupted power supply and heaps of old files and old and broken furniture being thrown out of sarkari offices on a monumental scale. Of course it had grown over decades, right under everybody's nose; but it was also completely unnoticed, like the elephant in the room! Now, a new groom's come and things are changing. It is not that the older order did not think about stuff like cleaning up the Ganga or the future et...

MUMBAI: The swearing-in of BJP's first Chief Minister in Maharashtra at the Wankhede Stadium here will be a lavish affair with about 40,000 guests including Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance. For the first time swearing-in will be held at the famous cricket ground. In 1995, when BJP came to power in alliance with Shiv Sena , swearing-in had been held at Shivaji Park. Apart from the formal ceremony, there will be a musical programme by Ashok...

What if India's two national centrist parties decide to work together instead of negating each other? Though improbable at present, can it happen in the future? Whether the BJP and the Congress would like to admit it or not, they have much in common. Both are centrist parties. Both are for economic reforms and liberalisation. Both consider themselves national parties. Both have appealed in past elections to all sections of voters even though the riots of early 2002 took India back to the darkest of dark...

MUMBAI: Lotus India Asset Management Company has roped in Tridib Pathak, CIO of DBS Chola Mutual Fund, as the CIO of its equity division in place of Sandip Sabharwal, ahead of the proposed launch of its schemes. Mr Pathak, who is currently serving the notice period with DBS Chola, confirmed the development to ET, while declining to comment further. With the appointment of Mr Pathak, the launch of Lotus' equity schemes is likely to be on track, subject to...

NEW DELHI: The rather subdued exterior of Lotus Herbals' corporate headquarters in Noida betrays the hectic parleys that are on at the home-grown premium herbal cosmetics maker, which has marquee brands and private equity players wooing it aggressively. The second generation of the Passi family, which runs the business set up by entrepreneur Kamal Passi in 1993, is adamant on not selling it. "We won't sell out and we don't have plans to list in the near term," said...

MUMBAI: Advertisements by the Shiv Sena Wednesday showed itself as the prime contender for power in Maharashtra as the assembly elections got under way. In a full front page advertisement in the party organs, Saamana and Dopaharka Saamana Wednesday, the Shiv Sena proclaimed: "Dhanushyabaan Ki Tankaar Hai, Aani Ab Apni Sarkar Hai!" Dhanushyabaan, or bow and arrow is the Shiv Sena's traiditional election symbol. Similarly, in other big advertisements...

KANYAKUMARI-TN: The National Flower Lotus, reverentially used by the Hindus to pray to their respective deities, has become a menace of sorts in this district, causing havoc to dozens of ponds and tanks depleting the ground water. The delicate ecological balance of this district, full of groves and fields, was deteriorating as the ponds which served as the backbone for recharging the aquifiers and acted as a buffer, were dying a slow death due to cultivation of lotus, said R S Lal Mohan,a...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water and lotus are natural companions, but in Kerala there is this long-standing political irony of the BJP lotus failing to bloom in the state known for its breathtaking water bodies. The BJP cannot be accused of not trying to make inroads into the Malayali mind. Two years ago, the prime minister himself decided to holiday by the backwaters of Kumarakom in Kottayam district. And the National Democratic Alliance included two Keralites in its ministry, O Rajagopal and P C...

In his poem, Choric Song, in which lies much food for thought, Alfred Lord Tennyson talks of the feelings that pass the minds of the warriors of Ulysses (Odysseus). On arriving at an island, they eat the lotus which grows there and soon fall under its spell, becoming lethargic, losing all desire for further voyages or adventures, desiring only for the peace to fall upon them like the "sweet music that softer falls than petals from blown roses on the grass. " In...

MUMBAI: Lotus India Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd said on Wednesday that it has collected about 1.64 billion rupees in its Lotus India Fixed Maturity Plan-375 Days-Series IV. The fund house managed assets worth about 64 billion rupees at the end of September, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.

KYOTO: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Toji temple here this morning, a lotus attached to a statue of Lord Buddha stood out, much to his amusement. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , who was accompanying Modi during the tour of the ancient temple, wanted to explain the significance of the lotus. He started detailing the significance and was midway when an amused Modi pointed out that he knows about it. "I know its significance. It is the...

CHANDIGARH: Launching BJP's campaign for Haryana Assembly polls, party president Amit Shah today alleged that corruption had flourished during the successive governments in state and sought a decisive mandate for all-round development of the state. "For 20 years, we are seeing Hooda and Chautala (ruling the state). One comes and corruption flourishes, the other comes both 'gooindaism' and corruption flourish. When you bring us to power, we will root out corruption...

NEW DELHI: Real estate firm Lotus Greens Developers today said it will build four new projects in the national capital region with expected sales of Rs 4,400 crore over the next four years. Lotus Greens, which was founded last year by Nirmal Singh , one of the promoters of another realty firm The 3C, has acquired 925 acres in Delhi-NCR for real estate projects. Private equity firm Red Fort Capital has invested Rs 365 crore in Lotus Greens' projects and...

KYOTO: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Toji temple here this morning, a lotus attached to a statue of Lord Buddha stood out, much to his amusement. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , who was accompanying Modi during the tour of the ancient temple, wanted to explain the significance of the lotus. He started detailing the significance and was midway when an amused Modi pointed out that he knows about it. "I know its significance. It is the...

By: Vithal C Nadkarni The Lotus has morphed into the Broom. Babudom's electrified. There's talk of uninterrupted power supply and heaps of old files and old and broken furniture being thrown out of sarkari offices on a monumental scale. Of course it had grown over decades, right under everybody's nose; but it was also completely unnoticed, like the elephant in the room! Now, a new groom's come and things are changing. It is not that the older order did not think about stuff like cleaning up the Ganga or the future...

Afreshly published copy of Nammalvar's Tiruviruttam(A Hundred Measures of Time) arrives. The Penguin classic, translated from the Tamil by Archana Venkatesan, has on its cover Olivia Fraser's Radha. It shows a gold canvas with rows of lotuses on which a Yoni's outline shimmers. Your columnist would like to link the lotuses with the philosophy of the Alvars that says the only supreme man (Purushottama) is Vishnu; all other sentient beings are inherently female! In such a scheme, Vishnu would be the lover and Nammalvar...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The war of words between the BJP and the Congress took a new turn across the nation today with the latter releasing a chargesheet against the former's government, and Kerala was no exception. Even as the Deputy PM toured the state and worked hard to enable his party to open its account here, the Congress strongly reminded the BJP leadership that the party will have to face the voters' emotions on the issue of drought. Focusing his criticism on LK Advani who...

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has allowed the BJP to change the outline of its election symbol " Lotus " to make it look bolder and the paty will use the revamped version in all its publicity material for the upcoming polls. The party had approached the Election Commission to alter the design of its election symbol as the present form looks much lighter in comparison to other symbols. "The BJP has been allowed to use its poll symbol "Lotus" with...

KOLKATA: With Trinamool Congress' spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha Polls, party supremo Mamata Banerjee seemed to be have outwitted the opposition, mainly the Left in West Bengal. The Left in the once regarded red citadel put up its worst ever performance winning just two seats. Apart from Trinamool's dream run which swept up 34 of the 42 seats, the polls also had surprises in store with BJP registering an impressive performance...